Fulwarc II
Fulwarc II cuCyve, Prince of Bone (b. 490 SR - d. 556 SR) (r. 507 SR - death) was the patriarch of the ruling dynasty of Cyve, the house of the same name, King of the Cyvekt and Prince of Bone. He saw the largest expansion of the Cyvekt Kingdom in its history up to that point. His conquests included territories in the former realms of Luskan, Evyni, and Tarena. He died at the Siege of Pamala in 556 SR. Early Life Fulwarc was born in the Palace on the Rock, the second son of Glynt IV, during the reign of his grandfather, Glynt III, the Magnificent. At birth, Fulwarc was not considered a potential candidate for ascending to the throne, as his brother Thraec was fifteen months his senior. Because of his unlikely succession, Fulwarc spent the first five years of his life in the care of his great-uncle Hydan in an estate east of Ditayukl. Hydan treated the boy poorly, punishing him for every minor offense. This hardened young Fulwarc, and his relationship with his great-uncle shaped his own personality over the course of his life. Heir Apparent In 495 SR, the third in line to the throne, Thraec, died from an outbreak of plague in Lexevh. This altered the plans of Glynt III, who had been prepping not only his son but also his grandson for the throne. Fulwarc was nearly six years old and unable to read or write, making his candidacy a great disappointment to the aging king. Fulwarc returned to the Palace on the Rock in the winter of 495 where he began an intense education under the tutelage of Hynasf, who had also educated Glynt IV in his youth and served Glynt III and his father before that. Fulwarc suffered from an early life without education, but over the following two years managed to gather a basic understanding of the complex runes of Cyvekt—it being a mixture of several northern languages and wholly inconsistent. Fulwarc’s education in military discipline, a favored tradition by the cuCyves, painted a better picture of the youth. His focused personality, shaped by an abusive early childhood, lent itself well to the rigors of northern fighting styles. By the time Fulwarc was fourteen, he stood a head taller than his cousins and other boys his age. His size and strength would leave an impression on Hynasf, who would include detailed descriptions of his body shape and physical activities in The Four Kings. Glynt III died in 504 SR. Glynt IV succeeded him, touting a future military campaign against the Lusekt enclaves on Ederrot. But he would follow his father to the grave less than three years later, having built many new ships. Early Reign Fulwarc ascended as the second of his name to the throne of Cyvekt, including territories in the former Frelesti holds, at the age of sixteen. His first commands as king were to siege the Lusekt enclaves in Ederrot. His successes were limited, but several new territories were added to the kingdom and promptly handed out as favors to his favored courtiers. As per arrangements made by his grandfather, Fulwarc married a princess of Nech six months after taking the throne. He reportedly said, “A greater curse could not I have suffered,” upon seeing her for the first time. His early marriage was loyal with none of the womanizing he would later be famous for breaking his devotion to his betrothal. A year later, a daughter was born to Fulwarc, but she would not survive infancy. Following the death of his first child, Fulwarc broke his marriage vows and sought after many women. He only returned to his wife two years later, and produced his first legitimate son, Unger. It would be another three years before the birth of his second son with his wife, Glynt. Sometime afterwards his queen fell ill and died of natural causes in either 515 or 516 SR, but by then she had no relationship with her husband and was cordoned off in a small room of the palace. The kingdom during these early years saw a stagnating economy that would drive Fulwarc II to seek outside sources of income. Then, between 510 and 515 SR, his advisor, Hynasf, sought diplomatic ties with the Karapeshai Exatai. It was during this decade that Fulwarc spent two years campaigning against tribes in northern Ederrot. War of the Three Gods Lawgiver Isathmaeyr’s reign was one of persecution against Maninists within the Evyni Empire, or so the historical records of the Satar would recall. When Redeemer Jahan’s war with the Evyni was at its height, diplomatic relations between Cyve and the Karapeshai Exatai were developing in their earliest forms. Hynasf served as the primary diplomat with his Accan partners in the south. He received word that the Redeemer had suffered setbacks in the north over the campaigning seasons of 515 and 516 SR. The Cyvekt diplomat made quick work of arrangements for an alliance against the Evyni. Fulwarc II had expressed his interest in raiding the coastal villages and city of Talore for a fresh source of income into his draining treasury, and Hynasf took advantage of the young king’s eagerness. In 518 SR, a large party of Satar diplomats journeyed across the Yadyevu Sea to Lexevh. Redeemer Jahan, through the Accan-Cyvekt diplomatic talks, was advised to make a gift to the young northern king. He made this tribute in the form of a thousand trained horses, spices, and silk. Fulwarc II famously kicked his Satar diplomat down the stairs of his dais. It was said this greatly impressed the Satar diplomats, and through them Redeemer Jahan. Fulwarc sent news back to the Karapeshai that he would be proclaimed Lawgiver of the Evyni in place of his soon to be defeated enemies. This is when Fulwarc II ordered the bones of Isathmaeyr delivered to him, which would later be used to form his Satar mask. Fulwarc II set out from his capital in the spring of 520 SR with the fleet his father built, fully intent on raiding the Evyni coast. A small Satar military force was granted to Fulwarc by Jahan prior to the campaign beginning, among them a young Artaxeras, then a vatakasa in the Exatai’s military, who would later become Fulwarc’s most trusted friend and companion. This force spent the summer of 520 SR raiding the Evyni coast, making expeditions as far north as the mouth of the River Einan. The latter were turned back by Lusekt raids in the region, with Fulwarc not wanting a naval war as the Evyni Empire’s soft underbelly was open to him. Cyvekt forces captured the Evyni city of Talore in 521 SR. At Talore Fulwarc suffered a life-threatening wound to the chest from an Evyni soldier. He would later accredit his miraculous recovery as a conversion experience to Ardavan, a religion he would hold to the remainder of his life. He would lead Cyvekt forces on continuing raids against remaining Evyni lords until the defeat of those factions by the Karapeshai Exatai in early 530’s SR. Records of Fulwarc’s financial gain in the War of the Three Gods, though possibly exaggerated, claimed he was briefly worth twice as much as all tax revenue his notable forefathers had ever collected. Masked as Prince of Bone Though it took many years, the Redeemer Avetas did make good on the promise of his predecessor in delivering the skeleton of the last Lawgiver to the north. The final warlords of the Evyni were subdued with little direct conflict with Cyvekt raiders, and the period of peace allowed Fulwarc to gather is resources. The influx of gold from the south was quickly burned through, against the warnings of his advisor, in the construction of one hundred warships—then the largest fleet north of the Lovi Sea. A portion of the treasury was spent on forging and then masking Fulwarc in Satar custom as a full Prince of the Exatai, with a mask made from the remains of Isathmaeyr. Typical Satar Princely masks were forged of silver, and the insistence on Fulwarc to wear the bones of his rival was met with the appropriate title of Prince of Bone. With the support of the Exatai, Fulwarc launched on a raid of Luskan at the helm of his new fleet in 533 SR. The campaign was a swift victory for the Cyvekt raiders, and by the following winter the capital and richest regions of Sarkanda were occupied. It would take a further two years to force the final Lusekt king into battle in northern Sarkanda at the Battle of the Sea Lords in 536 SR. Here, Fulwarc’s fetish for bones became most infamous when he ordered the remains of the fallen boiled and used as decorations for a ship built as tribute to Redeemer Avetas. Unger, the heir-apparent to Fulwarc’s kingdom, died in a failed raid of the northernmost Aitahist holdings on Gilot in 535 SR. Glynt rose to be his heir and regent in Ederrot. What money Fulwarc left to the treasury was spent by Glynt during the late 530’s and 540’s in massive construction efforts in the capital. The famed expansion of the Palace on the Rock and construction of southern stone fortifications around the city of Lexevh took place during this spending spree. Category:People Category:Ederru Category:Cyve